RED HILL — With the opening of a science discovery room at the Upper Perkiomen Valley Library, Wendy Kramer, the head of youth services, hopes to get more young children interested in the subjects many American children have fallen behind on.

“We’re trying to get them excited about math and science,” Kramer said Monday. “In this community, there’s nothing for the kids.”

Through grants from Univest and Target, Kramer said creating the room for local children to utilize on their library trips with their parents became possible.

Since the science discovery room was opened in the fall, more than 600 kids have come through.

Advertisement

“Parents are surprised when they come down here,” she said.

Originally, the basement room was used to store used sales books. Now, it has been repurposed so half of it is devoted to teaching young children different aspects of science with educational toys, flash cards, microscopes and many other learning tools.

In addition to all that, a variety of animals are housed in cages or tanks in the room so children can see and learn about them first-hand.

“We have a little zoo going on,” Kramer laughed.

Among the animals in the science discovery room’s menagerie are a tortoise, fish and a bearded dragon.

On a table in a brightly-colored plastic case, a tadpole just beginning to develop legs floated.

Different units are taught in the room for periods of time, Kramer said, so teaching the tadpole’s growth cycle was also part of an exhibit covering rocks and insects.

On a floor beneath her, two little boys from a local daycare played with tiny plastic bug models.

“We teach them how to tell whether a bug is an insect or not and they use those models to illustrate that,” Kramer said.

On the table, flash cards displaying the various life cycles of insects were also laid out.

In the summer, Kramer said one of the units planned will have to do with weather. Already, she said they’d done a unit on the human body, using skelton models and break-away busts to display organs and bone structure.

Kramer said she’d been wanting to start a science room for years and the grants provided her with that opportunity.

With the grant money secured, Kramer put a lot of work into the room, which she said is unlike anything she’s seen elsewhere.

“I kind of just came up with it as we came along,” Kramer said.

Although she currently has no ties with the local schools, Kramer hopes to expand and build a relationship with them as time passes.

She also said the library is always looking for volunteers to help and those interested in volunteering could even just come for a few hours at a time.

Those interested can contact the library at 215-679-2020.

“We’re just getting the the little ones excited about learning,” Kramer said. “This is all hands-on.”